1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus to create a new folder for storing data in a built-in storage medium of an image forming apparatus, and a method and an apparatus to store data in the created folder and retrieve data from the built-in storage unit by using a manipulation unit of the image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, digital devices, such as a digital camera, a digital camcorder, and a camera phone, are increasingly used. At the same time, users' demands for printing image data generated from the digital devices are accordingly increased.
Image forming apparatuses such as a printer and a multi-function peripheral having an internal storage, such as a hard disk drive (HDD), can store image data or other data from conventional copy machines, printers, or facsimiles in the HDD built in the image forming apparatus without being required to carry such data in a separate personal storage device or a document. However, when the data to be printed is stored in the HDD, particularly when the data is directly stored in a storage unit of a printer through an USB card or a memory card without help from a host computer, it is nearly impossible or excessively cumbersome to select a destination in which to store the data. Furthermore, it is inconvenient to retrieve a desired piece of data from such an HDD.
Typically, in order to store external data in the HDD of the printer without help of a host computer, an USB port or a memory slot is utilized. Most such input channels are set to store the data in a specific folder designated by the printer. In addition, more complex processes are necessary to create a new folder and store the data in it. Thus, most users direct the host computer to interact with the HDD of the printer to transfer the data stored in the HDD of the printer to a different folder. Otherwise, the data to be stored is initially stored in the host computer and transferred to a desired folder of the HDD of the printer.
Recently, approaches for connecting an external storage to a printer and directly printing the data stored in the external storage without help of a personal computer are preferred as in PictBridge. In these approaches, it is also difficult for a user to store the data in a desired location (e.g. a desired folder). Also, it is not easy to interact with a host computer to store the data in the desired location whenever the data is to be stored. Furthermore, these approaches are not preferable for effective utilization of the HDD, of which capacity is regularly increased from gigabytes to terabytes at the present time.
Therefore, if a user is allowed to create, register, and designate a folder in the built-in storage unit of the image forming apparatus by using an input key of the image forming apparatus, for example, a number key of a multi-function peripheral or a printer, it would be convenient to store the data in a desired location. In addition, the storage unit, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD), of the image forming apparatus would be more effectively utilized.